Emily Dunleavy
Marsden State High School
Results of high-achieving students at a Logan high school are being driven up even further under an outstanding teacher and a new program aimed at inspiring university success.
Student results in Marsden State High School’s Exceptional Learners Program (ELP) have climbed under coordinator Emily Dunleavy, who is passionate that “no student should be disadvantaged because of their postcode”.
The impact she has had at the school, and in students’ lives, in less than three years is one of the reasons she has been named a finalist in this year’s Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Beginning to Teach Award.
Emily is playing a key role in the roll out of the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program in the ELP Program, and in securing students $25,000 scholarships to attend the University of Queensland (UQ) under the Young Achievers Program.
AVID is a program being used in over 40 schools Australia-wide to provide lower socio-economic students with the academic, social and emotional skills they need to be successful at university. Marsden SHS is the first school in Queensland to introduce the program.
Emily is driven to help close the gap for students who come from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
She says those students face disadvantages, which can include intergenerational poverty and language challenges.
“Those students should not be disadvantaged because of that,” she says.
“For me, reading and a love of education really changed my life and I think if I could just give back to one kid, and get that one kid over the line, or that one kid that wants to go to university into university (it is all worth it), and as part of my role as the ELP coordinator, I was part of a process this term of getting six students out of nine a scholarship to UQ which is worth $25,000 apiece.
“I just think that they are the kids who need that; they need someone standing in their corner that is going to fight for them and when I look at those students who may not have been able to afford to go to university in a year’s time, they now have an open door – and in some small way I have been able to put the key in a little bit.”
QCT Director John Ryan says Emily’s commitment to provide the best possible education for her students is inspirational.
The winners of the QCT Excellence in Teaching Awards will be announced on October 27, the night before World Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Australia.
Congratulations Emily on being chosen as a finalist.
Student results in Marsden State High School’s Exceptional Learners Program (ELP) have climbed under coordinator Emily Dunleavy, who is passionate that “no student should be disadvantaged because of their postcode”.
The impact she has had at the school, and in students’ lives, in less than three years is one of the reasons she has been named a finalist in this year’s Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Beginning to Teach Award.
Emily is playing a key role in the roll out of the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program in the ELP Program, and in securing students $25,000 scholarships to attend the University of Queensland (UQ) under the Young Achievers Program.
AVID is a program being used in over 40 schools Australia-wide to provide lower socio-economic students with the academic, social and emotional skills they need to be successful at university. Marsden SHS is the first school in Queensland to introduce the program.
Emily is driven to help close the gap for students who come from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
She says those students face disadvantages, which can include intergenerational poverty and language challenges.
“Those students should not be disadvantaged because of that,” she says.
“For me, reading and a love of education really changed my life and I think if I could just give back to one kid, and get that one kid over the line, or that one kid that wants to go to university into university (it is all worth it), and as part of my role as the ELP coordinator, I was part of a process this term of getting six students out of nine a scholarship to UQ which is worth $25,000 apiece.
“I just think that they are the kids who need that; they need someone standing in their corner that is going to fight for them and when I look at those students who may not have been able to afford to go to university in a year’s time, they now have an open door – and in some small way I have been able to put the key in a little bit.”
QCT Director John Ryan says Emily’s commitment to provide the best possible education for her students is inspirational.
The winners of the QCT Excellence in Teaching Awards will be announced on October 27, the night before World Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Australia.
Congratulations Emily on being chosen as a finalist.